1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a selection method of devices connected with a piece of electronic equipment and electronic equipment realizing the selection method. In particular, the present invention relates to a selection method of devices connected with a piece of electronic equipment and electronic equipment realizing the selection method, in which a plurality of input/output terminals and devices connected with the input/output terminals are displayed in ordinate axis directions and abscissa axis directions so as to be easily selected, and in which a selected device is set as an inputting device or an outputting device, or the inputting device and the outputting device that are connected with each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
Prior art electronic equipment having a plurality of input/output terminals to be connected with devices, for example, a television receiver 10 includes, as shown in FIG. 25, input/output terminals Line-1, Line-2 to be connected with devices for analog signals and an input/output terminal to be connected with a digital bus 13 conforming to the Institute of Electronical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standards 1394. In the configuration, a first device 11 is connected with the input/output terminal Line-1; a second device 12 is connected with the input/output terminal Line-2; daisy-chained devices, Device-1, Device-2 and Device-3, are connected with the input/output terminal for the digital bus 13, to which a third device 14 is connected as the Device-1; a fourth device 15 is connected as the Device-2; and a fifth device 16 is connected as the Device-3. Among the devices 11, 12, 14-16 connected with the input/output terminals in the aforesaid manner, a user can select a desired device in a menu displayed in a superimposed way (On Screen Display: OSD).
To adduce a specific example of the configuration, as shown in FIG. 26, a video tape recorder (VTR) is connected with the input/output terminal Line-1 of the television receiver 10 as the first device 11; a laser disk player (LDP) is connected with the input/output terminal Line-2 as the second device 12; a video cassette recorder (VCR) is connected with the digital bus 13 as the third device 14, the Device-1; a hard disc drive (HDD) is connected with the digital bus 13 as the fourth device 15, the Device-2; and a digital video disc player, or a digital versatile disc player, (DVD) is connected with the digital bus 13 as the fifth device 16, the Device-3.
With the television receiver 10 having the aforesaid connection configuration, as shown in FIG. 27, the devices can appropriately be selected in a state of being displayed on a screen 17 as graphic items by means of superimposing. In the present specification, the term xe2x80x9cgraphic itemxe2x80x9d means an image of a button-like icon displayed on the screen, which is used to select a device. The input/output terminals Line-1, Line-2 and the devices 14-16 (VCR, HDD, DVD) connected with the digital bus 13 are displayed on the screen 17 as the graphic items 19a-19e that are displayed in the menu 18 on the screen 17 in a row in an ordinate axis direction, for example, in the order of Line-1 (19a), Line-2 (19b), VCR (19c), HDD (19d), and DVD (19e) downward from the top. When a desired graphic item is selected among the graphic items 19a-19e displayed in the ordinate axis direction by a user""s action of pointing it with a cursor, the contents of the selected device among the devices 11, 12, 14-16 are connected with the television receiver 10 to become possible of being input or output.
However, in the aforesaid prior art television receiver 10 equipped with the plurality of input/output terminals, when a user selects a device connected with the television receiver 10 for displaying it on the screen 17, the user can select the input/output terminals Line-1, Line-2 conventionally for analog signal inputs, but the user must select a device on the digital bus 13 for digital signal inputs because the devices 14-16 are connected in a daisy chain and the fact makes it impossible to select one of the devices 14-16 by selecting a physical line. In the case, the conventional method of the selection using a menu (e.g. menu shown in FIG. 27) is applicable for the selection. However, the method has a problem that it is impossible to judge which device is for analog signals and which device is for digital signals because icons of physical lines (Line-1 , Line-2) and logical devices (VCR, HDD, DVD) are intermingled in the menu.
For example, input/output terminals to be connected with devices for analog signals can be displayed whether the devices are connected with the input/output terminals or not. However, the display regarding an input/output terminal to be connected with a digital bus connected with devices for digital signals automatically disappears from the screen when the daisy-chained devices are unchained and automatically appears in the screen when the devices are daisy-chained. Consequently, confusion arises in the judgment whether the devices in the current connection state are devices for analog signals or devices for digital signals.
There consequently is a problem to be resolved in the display method and the selection method for the easy discrimination of the connection state of devices to be connected with a plurality of input/output terminals of a piece of electronic equipment.
According to the present invention, the devices connected with a piece of electronic equipment are displayed in an ordinate axis direction and in an abscissa axis direction, and in the display of the devices, the devices that can be confirmed to be physically connected and the devices that can logically be identified are displayed in directions different from each other. Consequently, the discrimination of the connected devices, for example, the discrimination whether a device is for analog signals or for digital signals, becomes easy. Moreover, it becomes easy to select a device to which signals are output or devices to be connected with each other.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description of the invention and the following detailed description are exemplary, but are not restrictive, of the invention.